Battle in an Instant

"Over there!"

Li Si pointed at the Moon Spirit Leopard's location and warned his teammates.

Following Li Si's prompt, Arsen and the others also spotted the Moon Spirit Leopard. Elena charged straight toward the target.

She was the most agile member of the party and had taken on the task of restricting the Moon Spirit Leopard. However, it was daytime now, greatly weakening the Moon Spirit Leopard's stealth abilities. Her own speed would not be affected, and Elena was confident she could hold the Moon Spirit Leopard back.

As long as she stalled it for one minute, her teammates would catch up and kill this mana beast that had harmed people.

When the Moon Spirit Leopard hiding in the shadows saw everyone rushing in its direction, it knew it had been exposed. Without the slightest hesitation, it turned and fled. The jagged rocks around it did nothing to hinder its movements. With a light step off a boulder, it leaped down from the hilltop and raced toward the foot of the mountain.

The threat these people gave it far exceeded that of those who had hunted it before. Its instincts warned the Moon Spirit Leopard that it absolutely could not let them entangle it.

Seeing how decisively the Moon Spirit Leopard fled without even the slightest intention of fighting, Arsen and the others cursed under their breaths and hurriedly picked up speed to pursue it.

However, their speed was clearly no match for the mana beast's. Only Elena, the hunter, and Ya Er, a Gold-level warrior, could barely keep up.

"Accelerated Movement!"

With Li Si's chant, a flash of spell light caught up to Elena and Ya Er. Their bodies stirred, and their movement speed visibly increased.

"Nice one." Elena gave Li Si an approving nod and immediately sped up after the Moon Spirit Leopard.

Once she closed the distance to within her attack range, Elena put her dagger into her Storage Ring and drew her longbow, which glowed emerald green.

"Thorn Web!"

Amid a flash of green light, an arrow tore through the air toward the fleeing Moon Spirit Leopard.

The Moon Spirit Leopard seemed to sense the attack coming from behind. Its nimble body sprang into the air, dodging Elena's shot.

But Elena's arrow was clearly not that simple. The long arrow landed on the ground beneath the Moon Spirit Leopard, and green light flickered. A mass of dark green, thorn-covered vines suddenly burst from the earth, forming a huge net that sought to envelop the Moon Spirit Leopard completely.

With no foothold in midair, the Moon Spirit Leopard could only be helplessly caught by the thorny net. Though the barbed thorns could not injure its tough fur, and it quickly shredded the net with its claws, those brief moments of delay were enough for the others to close in.

Elena was still the first to approach. With a flick of her longbow, she fired three arrows at the Moon Spirit Leopard.

"Marking Shot!"

"Concussion Shot!"

"Binding Shot!"

Elena's triple shot was not intended to inflict much damage on the Moon Spirit Leopard. Her goal was to control the mana beast as much as possible while waiting for support from her teammates behind her.

Having only just broken free from the thorn web, the Moon Spirit Leopard failed to evade Elena's three arrows. They struck it squarely in the backside facing Elena. A pained howl burst from its mouth, and its movements visibly slowed.

The Moon Spirit Leopard seemed to realize that it could not escape Li Si and the others' hunt today. It turned around, and a blood-red haze seemed to cover its bright yellow eyes. Abandoning all thought of escape, it charged straight at Elena.

Its reduced speed seemed to have been completely lifted as the Moon Spirit Leopard entered a berserk state. A black blur shot toward Elena at terrifying speed.

"Watch out!"

Ya Er, only slightly behind, cried out.

Elena did not panic. She skillfully used the hunter's life-saving technique, Leap. Pale cyan Wind Elements swirled around the elf as her body soared backward. While evading the Moon Spirit Leopard's charge, she drew her bow and fired at it.

"Explosive Shot!"

The Moon Spirit Leopard darted right, dodging the arrow, then continued charging toward Elena. It had realized that unless it dealt with Elena, it had no chance of escaping this pursuit.

A hunter's tracking and control abilities were simply too powerful!

However, the Moon Spirit Leopard's plan was destined to fail. In that split second, Ya Er finally arrived. Drawing her black longsword, she slashed at the charging Moon Spirit Leopard.

Bang!

The Moon Spirit Leopard was smashed back at an even faster speed than it had charged in, crashing onto the ground and kicking up a cloud of dust.

Even though the Moon Spirit Leopard was a high-tier Silver-level mana beast, only a step away from Gold-level, Silver-level was still Silver-level. That single step was like an impassable chasm, firmly blocking its path. In terms of strength, it had no room to resist a Gold Warrior.

Not to mention that Ya Er was one of the strongest among Gold Warriors. She had sent the Moon Spirit Leopard flying with nearly overwhelming force.

Without another word, Ya Er gripped her sword and charged toward the Moon Spirit Leopard.

At this moment, offense and defense had switched!

Ya Er reached the Moon Spirit Leopard and delivered an ordinary diagonal slash.

Yet the Moon Spirit Leopard smelled death in that simple attack. It did not dare take it head-on and used its speed advantage to dodge aside, evading Ya Er's blow.

Ya Er furrowed her brows slightly. The Moon Spirit Leopard might only be a Silver-level mana beast, but it was just a bit faster than her, a Gold Warrior. How annoying.

If the Moon Spirit Leopard knew what Ya Er was thinking, it would probably burst into tears.

I'm a high-tier mana beast specialized in agility! I'm only a little faster than you because your main attribute is strength. What more do you want?

But Ya Er, who would one day become a Legendary-level warrior, naturally had a countermeasure.

"Charge!"

A pale white light flashed across Ya Er's body as her petite figure rushed toward the Moon Spirit Leopard at incredible speed.

Before the Moon Spirit Leopard could react, Ya Er had already closed in. She raised her longsword, and fine arcs of pale blue electricity gathered along its blade.

"Thunder Strike!"

The Moon Spirit Leopard had no time to react before taking the heavy blow. Even its toughest fur could not block Ya Er's sharp slash. A massive wound extended from its forelimb down to its abdomen, and dark red blood gushed out as though it cost nothing.

The heavily wounded Moon Spirit Leopard seemed to want to struggle, but lightning flickered across its body from time to time, paralyzing it completely. It could not move at all.

Having taken down the Moon Spirit Leopard in just two moves, Ya Er gave a satisfied snort, put away her sword, and happily ran over to Elena to ask whether her elf sister had been hurt during the chase.

Only then did Li Si, Arsen, and Lunbos finally arrive. They looked helplessly at the Moon Spirit Leopard lying on the ground, nearly dead.

Feels like there was nothing for the three of us to do?

"That's you guys. I did make a move."

Li Si looked at Arsen, openly expressing his disdain for him slacking off.

"What are you looking at?!"

Arsen punched Li Si on the shoulder, then walked toward Elena and Ya Er.

This book's recent numbers have not been very good. Some readers also pointed out some issues, and Tingyu seriously reflected on them. It really was my own problem. For example, some chapters had too much explanatory text, the plot progressed too slowly, there were not enough satisfying moments, and there were too many typos. All of this showed that, as a newcomer, I was still lacking in my ability to advance the plot and other aspects.

Tingyu promises to work hard to correct these issues and keep improving. I also want to thank all the honored readers who have continued following the story.

Your support is the motivation that drives me forward. Thank you. ()